Reaching, Grabbing, Rolling and Beer

This is Tali Bamlak’s MO these days (not so much the beer.)  Sunglasses and hats are a complete fascination, noses and cheeks will do in their absence.  She has also repeated her roll-over trick so I think she is officially there.  Yesterday while napping next to Uncle E, she turned on her side and grabbed his arm.  CUTE.

EA went on a hike today to Entoto with J. Mo, Tom, Fitz and the boys.  They had a great time and the view was nice but EA commented about the haze which, unfortunately, is due to pollution.  There are no catalytic converters here and the exhaust is pretty bad. 

Tali Bamlak and I chose a more cultural outing and went with Michelle and Kazina to a children’s theater to see a performance of traditional Ethiopian music and dance.  Michelle and I were both very excited to be at a first theatre outing with our daughters.

Bami slept through the “preview,” which was ½ of the movie Garfield, but woke up wide eyed at the sight of the young dancers in their costumes.  She was equally impressed with the ceiling fan.

In the afternoon, we hooked up with the hiking crew and went to a German Beer Garden for lunch which was fun and yummy.  A lovely Ethiopian man who has a Masters Degree in Political Science from Berkeley took the pictures below.

We are heading to bed early tonight to get a good night’s sleep for tomorrow’s adventure.  The babies are staying at the hotel with Azeb and Rahel and the Jens, Tom, Eric and Fitz are flying to Harar for a 24 hour trip.  Harar is a very interesting city, ancient and very significant for Muslims.   We are going to visit the village of Bedasa and to learn a bit more about that part of the country.  Won’t be able to blog tomorrow as a result but will surely have lots to share on Tuesday.

Love and Goodnight from Addis,

--Jen, Tali Bami and Uncle E